Egypt: Observations and Questions

Sandmonkey is highly principled. That is good for his self-image, but might be bad for Egyptian reform in general. The thing is, if Mubarak can’t reach a compromise with liberal forces he will seek one with the Brotherhood. And any compromise that the Brotherhood accepts entails them eventually reaching power and suppressing everyone else.

The trick is to compel Mubarak to reach a compromise that makes him yield most executive authority to representatives of the liberals. That means liberals spending a lot more time in Tahrir square, both protesting and organizing to select leaders in the safety of the crowd that also represents the crowd.

Finally, liberal forces have an important matter to consider: what will they do when and if they are confronted by violence or the threat of violence from forces of the Muslim Brotherhood? Will they cave? Run? Or will they fight back? And if they are unwilling to cave or run or fight back yet still want to see an Egypt not ruled by an Islamist regime, don’t they have to keep a Mubarak handy, at least temporarily, and what is it necessary for him to do? What will they offer him in exchange? link

Sandmonkey: Egypt, right now!

His account having been "suspended" - that is, hacked by the Mubarak regime - I am re-posting it from the Google cache:

I don't know how to start writing this. I have been battling fatigue for not sleeping properly for the past 10 days, moving from one's friend house to another friend's house, almost never spending a night in my home, facing a very well funded and well organized ruthless regime that views me as nothing but an annoying bug that its time to squash will come. The situation here is bleak to say the least.

It didn't start out that way. On Tuesday Jan 25 it all started peacefully, and against all odds, we succeeded to gather hundreds of thousands and get them into Tahrir Square, despite being attacked by Anti-Riot Police who are using sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets against us. We managed to break all of their barricades and situated ourselves in Tahrir. The government responded by shutting down all cell communication in Tahrir square, a move which purpose was understood later when after midnight they went in with all of their might and attacked the protesters and evacuated the Square. The next day we were back at it again, and the day after. Then came Friday and we braved their communication blackout, their thugs, their tear gas and their bullets and we retook the square. We have been fighting to keep it ever since.

That night the government announced a military curfew, which kept getting shorter by the day, until it became from 8 am to 3 pm. People couldn't go to work, gas was running out quickly and so were essential goods and money, since the banks were not allowed to operate and people were not able to collect their salary. The internet continued to be blocked, which affected all businesses in Egypt and will cause an economic meltdown the moment they allow the banks to operate again. We were being collectively punished for daring to say that we deserve democracy and rights, and to keep it up, they withdrew the police, and then sent them out dressed as civilians to terrorize our neighborhoods. I was shot at twice that day, one of which with a semi-automatic by a dude in a car that we the people took joy in pummeling. The government announced that all prisons were breached, and that the prisoners somehow managed to get weapons and do nothing but randomly attack people. One day we had organized thugs in uniforms firing at us and the next day they disappeared and were replaced by organized thugs without uniforms firing at us. Somehow the people never made the connection.

Despite it all, we braved it. We believed we are doing what's right and were encouraged by all those around us who couldn't believe what was happening to their country. What he did galvanized the people, and on Tuesday, despite shutting down all major roads leading into Cairo, we managed to get over 2 million protesters in Cairo alone and 3 million all over Egypt to come out and demand Mubarak's departure. Those are people who stood up to the regime's ruthlessness and anger and declared that they were free, and were refusing to live in the Mubarak dictatorship for one more day. That night, he showed up on TV, and gave a very emotional speech about how he intends to step down at the end of his term and how he wants to die in Egypt, the country he loved and served. To me, and to everyone else at the protests this wasn't nearly enough, for we wanted him gone now. Others started asking that we give him a chance, and that change takes time and other such poppycock. Hell, some people and family members cried when they saw his speech. People felt sorry for him for failing to be our dictator for the rest of his life and inheriting us to his Son. It was an amalgam of Stockholm syndrome coupled with slave mentality in a malevolent combination that we never saw before. And the Regime capitalized on it today.

Today, they brought back the internet, and started having people calling on TV and writing on facebook on how they support Mubarak and his call for stability and peacefull change in 8 months. They hung on to the words of the newly appointed government would never harm the protesters, whom they believe to be good patriotic youth who have a few bad apples amongst them. We started getting calls asking people to stop protesting because "we got what we wanted" and "we need the country to start working again". People were complaining that they miss their lives. That they miss going out at night, and ordering Home Delivery. That they need us to stop so they can resume whatever existence they had before all of this. All was forgiven, the past week never happened and it's time for Unity under Mubarak's rule right now.

To all of those people I say: NEVER! I am sorry that your lives and businesses are disrupted, but this wasn't caused by the Protesters. The Protesters aren't the ones who shut down the internet that has paralyzed your businesses and banks: The government did. The Protesters weren't the ones who initiated the military curfew that limited your movement and allowed goods to disappear off market shelves and gas to disappear: The government did. The Protesters weren't the ones who ordered the police to withdraw and claimed the prisons were breached and unleashed thugs that terrorized your neighborhoods: The government did. The same government that you wish to give a second chance to, as if 30 years of dictatorship and utter failure in every sector of government wasn't enough for you. The Slaves were ready to forgive their master, and blame his cruelty on those who dared to defy him in order to ensure a better Egypt for all of its citizens and their children. After all, he gave us his word, and it's not like he ever broke his promises for reform before or anything.

Then Mubarak made his move and showed them what useful idiots they all were.

You watched on TV as "Pro-Mubarak Protesters" – thugs who were paid money by NDP members by admission of High NDP officials- started attacking the peaceful unarmed protesters in Tahrir square. They attacked them with sticks, threw stones at them, brought in men riding horses and camels- in what must be the most surreal scene ever shown on TV- and carrying whips to beat up the protesters. And then the Bullets started getting fired and Molotov cocktails started getting thrown at the Anti-Mubarak Protesters as the Army standing idly by, allowing it all to happen and not doing anything about it. Dozens were killed, hundreds injured, and there was no help sent by ambulances. The Police never showed up to stop those attacking because the ones who were captured by the Anti-mubarak people had police ID's on them. They were the police and they were there to shoot and kill people and even tried to set the Egyptian Museum on Fire. The Aim was clear: Use the clashes as pretext to ban such demonstrations under pretexts of concern for public safety and order, and to prevent disunity amongst the people of Egypt. But their plans ultimately failed, by those resilient brave souls who wouldn't give up the ground they freed of Egypt, no matter how many live bullets or firebombs were hurled at them. They know, like we all do, that this regime no longer cares to put on a moderate mask. That they have shown their true nature. That Mubarak will never step down, and that he would rather burn Egypt to the ground than even contemplate that possibility.

In the meantime, State-owned and affiliated TV channels were showing coverage of Peaceful Mubarak Protests all over Egypt and showing recorded footage of Tahrir Square protest from the night before and claiming it's the situation there at the moment. Hundreds of calls by public figures and actors started calling the channels saying that they are with Mubarak, and that he is our Father and we should support him on the road to democracy. A veiled girl with a blurred face went on Mehwer TV claiming to have received funding by Americans to go to the US and took courses on how to bring down the Egyptian government through protests which were taught by Jews. She claimed that AlJazeera is lying, and that the only people in Tahrir square now were Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. State TV started issuing statements on how the people arrested Israelis all over Cairo engaged in creating mayhem and causing chaos. For those of you who are counting this is an American-Israeli-Qatari-Muslim Brotherhood-Iranian-Hamas conspiracy. Imagine that. And MANY PEOPLE BOUGHT IT. I recall telling a friend of mine that the only good thing about what happened today was that it made clear to us who were the idiots amongst our friends. Now we know.

Now, just in case this isn't clear: This protest is not one made or sustained by the Muslim Brotherhood, it's one that had people from all social classes and religious background in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood only showed up on Tuesday, and even then they were not the majority of people there by a long shot. We tolerated them there since we won't say no to fellow Egyptians who wanted to stand with us, but neither the Muslims Brotherhood not any of the Opposition leaders have the ability to turn out one tenth of the numbers of Protesters that were in Tahrir on Tuesday. This is a revolution without leaders. Three Million individuals choosing hope instead of fear and braving death on hourly basis to keep their dream of freedom alive. Imagine that.

The End is near. I have no illusions about this regime or its leader, and how he will pluck us and hunt us down one by one till we are over and done with and 8 months from now will pay people to stage fake protests urging him not to leave power, and he will stay "because he has to acquiesce to the voice of the people". This is a losing battle and they have all the weapons, but we will continue fighting until we can't. I am heading to Tahrir right now with supplies for the hundreds injured, knowing that today the attacks will intensify, because they can't allow us to stay there come Friday, which is supposed to be the game changer. We are bringing everybody out, and we will refuse to be anything else than peaceful. If you are in Egypt, I am calling on all of you to head down to Tahrir today and Friday. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn't over and done with. I am calling you to bring your friends, to bring medical supplies, to go and see what Mubarak's gurantees look like in real life. Egypt needs you. Be Heroes.

Update, 11:30am

I think I panicked a bit. I thought a bit and contacted his host. His account wasn’t hacked, his host says it was suspended because it was under attack:

“Due to problems related to traffic and attacks (many from IPs in Saudi Arabia), the blog Rantings of a Sandmonkey (hosted on Freedom’s Zone server … an affiliate of Hyscience), one of Egypt” top bloggers and activists, has been temporarily suspended until the problems can be resolved (hopefully by this evening). Before Sandmonkey was suspended, his last post, dated Thursday, 3 February 2011, was posted below.” link

And, as Roger Simon knows, Sandmonkey is out of jail – after being beaten, robbed, and his car wrecked: http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2011/02/02/cairo-exclusive-interview-with-sandmonkey/?singlepage=true

Update, 2/4/11 8:20am

The Sandmonkey is back on-line. Thank you for visiting.

Update, 2/4/11 3:00pm

The story, from one of Sandmonkey's friends and companions:

"...I was a reporter, a Sudan-based contract journalist for Bloomberg News returning to Cairo for vacation. The friends giving me a ride downtown were just trying to take food and first-aid supplies to those injured -" link

Sandmonkey: Fundamentals!

Sandmonkey's account has been hacked. Here is a previous post of his from August 25, 2009:

Fundamentals!

As far back as I can remember I’ve had this dream. Not much anymore, but for a while I had it all the time. There’s people on a rollercoaster and they’re having the time of their lives, and it’s loud and crashing, and there’s the booming of the ocean and the acoustics of the wind, and they’re screaming with their hands in the air, and the thing that they don’t know is that the tracks stop, somewhere at a crest, just gap into nothing, and they’re hurtling toward it. They think that they’re safe but they’re not safe.

And usually the dream gets bogged down in bureaucratic detail, trying to mobilize a team to somehow solve this problem, all the futile possible ways we could save them. Dream logic; leadership dreams. Maybe if they all raised their arms at the same counterintuitive time, at the bottom of the hill maybe, it would provide some kind of drag. Maybe if they all unlatched their harnesses at the same moment, if they somehow all knew to do it at the same time, like in a football wave, if they could do this as they were launching into space, and off the tracks altogether, they would take flight, and we could… catch them, somehow. Everyone would be safe.

Karen Armstrong wrote one of my favorite books of all time, the elegant and accessible “A History Of God”. It’s brilliant, I’ve read it lots of times. In 2000, she wrote a sort of follow-up called “The Battle For God”, about fundamentalism in the new millennium.

The idea, the rationale as such, is pretty simple. We find ourselves in a complex, degenerate post-God secular world; there are no rules, the center doesn’t hold, nobody’s watching you or judging you. Some thrive; I thrive. But it’s nervous: you’re looking into an existential abyss, or you’re standing in the middle of Sodom trying to avoid eye contact, or you’re getting turned on and about to do something really stupid. Those are the main things. Fundamentalism is sort of like all of those things at once. Let me elaborate

What’s most amazing about the millennial fundamentalists, which every single religion has, is their basic intent on going “back to basics” in some fashion, while completely ignoring the fact that there aren’t actually any “basics” to go back to. The stuff they want to accomplish, for all of us, the walls they want where a body meets a body, the rules be which we must abide, never actually existed. They’re fantasies about control, mental lockdown, revisions to decisions that no moment can erase. Every single fundamentalism is synthetic, reaching backwards for an imaginary grace.

Fundamentalism reaches past all that nonsense and chaos and into a primordial world where men were men and women weren’t, where no decisions ever had to be made, where every single option was laid out ahead of time by a firm but loving God, where families meant a certain thing and sex meant a certain thing, and everything was easy except temptation. But that’s obviously a crock. You can’t honestly tell me there was ever a time when human beings were less complex, less passionate or afraid or unpredictable, less wonderful than they are now.

For me, all this was a revelation on the level of learning, as a kid, that Allah and JHVH and the christian God were the same thing: that all Big Three monotheisms worship the God of Abraham and don’t even bother hiding that fact. The idea that “fundamentalism” was a logically tortured appeal to a beautiful pure world that never existed, and that Al Qaeda and Juniper Creek are essentially parallel movements with the same agenda and arising from the same confusion and fear… Revelatory.

Things are confusing, lots of stuff coming at your face all the time. Sex keeps getting less and less kind, and we keep blaming more and more shit on our parents and our kids, and technology is overwhelming and even the hippest among us can sometimes feel like the world is changing so fast and flying by so carelessly without giving us more than a glimpse of itself, much less a place to grab hold. I can’t say they don’t have a point. But then, terrorists usually do. If they didn’t have something to say (even if it’s usually a crock of bullshit), they wouldn’t feel silenced, and they wouldn’t pull the shit they pull. They wouldn’t feel the need to scream so loudly that the whole world must listen.

For a lot of us, it’s enough to have self-control and to make good choices, and not get out of hand, or take part in what’s going on all around you. For others, the projected disarray is way too much to handle, and you start feeling like a rat in a cage as big as the world. Everywhere around you, the world is on fire, and everyone around you goes on like the world hasn’t ended. You’re on a roller coaster with everybody alive, headed for a gap, and nobody knows it but you: we’re all heading merrily toward our destruction, and we don’t even know it. We think that we’re safe but we’re not safe.

If you have that kind of information, if you know that the tracks run out and people are going to die, it’s not only your duty to use it, but your purpose on this earth. To be in the world, but not of it. To help, and to heal, and to save the world, and in so doing, save yourself. To do what’s necessary to fulfill your destiny: to love them, and take care of them, show them the glory of peace. To see your infinite mercy matched only by your power, and complete control. Isn’t that the definition of the righteous man? The saint? The martyr? All of them…Terrorists. To give up the right to walk in this world, for a duty that must be obeyed for our souls to stay intact, unbending.

If you saw the roller coaster heading toward the gap, if you were in the middle of that nightmare, wouldn’t you do anything to stop it?

Welcome to the War!

Terror techniques & their counter-measures

Sultan M Hali, Pakistan Observer

There are various techniques in vogue by terrorists, which are being employed to subvert the uneducated youth and different methods are being utilized to infiltrate communities / masses to gain their support during planning and execution phases. How does a single individual go from standing on a street corner to flicking a switch and blowing himself up? The question is apparently simple. The answers are not. The religious extremists and harbingers of hate follow a rigid curriculum in brainwashing young men to become suicide bombers. It is not easy to replace an individual’s intrinsic love of life with death worship, propelling him on a path that ultimately ends up with him in a suicide jacket ready to become a gory statistic. The methodology is described here. The indoctrination lectures progress from the general to specific.

Throughout these lectures, the teachers convince the young recruits, of whom there is no dearth in the impoverished region they come from, that their religion is the most superior in the universe; that theirs is the only true religion with all the rest being false or erroneous. And that the adherents of those other religions are actually an impediment in the total spread of the one true religion. These initial lectures are rendered with the “fire and brimstone” method of rhetoric and to emphasize the veracity, misquotes from the Holy Qurân are freely used.

Next, through daily teachings of hour’ long sessions, it is instilled in the recruits’ minds that the path they have chosen i.e. the propagation of this one true religion and the subjugation of all the rest, is essentially struggling in the cause of God. That this struggle (jihad), though difficult, is ordained by Allah. They are constantly bombarded by “relevant” verses. They are told that heavens and its untold pleasures is the reward for those who die while fighting in the cause of God.

This first indoctrination step, acting as a foundation for what is to come, is relatively simple. The students, who have been born in Muslim families, are already convinced of everything that is told to them and the fiery lectures act as reinforcers for their supple minds. Soon afterwards they are introduced to the implement that will launch them on that one-way journey to the heavens—the “suicide jacket”. Starting from the trigger mechanism to its contents and effects, with painstaking thoroughness, the children are taught about a suicide jacket. They are taught that it usually consists of several pockets filled with plates or sticks of explosives. The explosive is surrounded by material for fragmentation effects. The resultant shrapnel is responsible for most of the bomb’s lethality i.e. about 90% of all casualties caused by an exploding suicide jacket. A “loaded” jacket may weigh between 5 to 20 kilograms, with 60-40 ratio of explosive to shrapnel material and may be easily hidden under loose flowing garments. For excellent shrapnel effects, any small metal pieces could be used but the best are ball bearing, nails, screws, nuts and metal wire. The most dangerous and widely used shrapnel are ball bearings that are 3 to 7 millimeters in diameter. In the evenings further indoctrination classes are held. In a mellifluous tone, the teacher explains to the children that modernity and secular culture of the West are abominable sins. The import of Western culture is leading the devout astray from God. The unbelief of the West is so grave a sin that it merits death whenever it becomes a hurdle to the spread of the one true religion. It is imprinted on the impressionable minds that the current miserable plight of the recruit’s nation is because of wandering away from the chosen path.

By the end of these lectures, the recruit is usually filled with a feeling of utter humiliation and blinding rage. A consuming hatred for infidels and their local lackeys (no distinction is made between the two) comes as a natural accompaniment of course. At night the children are made to sleep cuddling their suicide jackets to get used to a garment they will be wearing till they go into heaven. They are filled with dreams of entering the pearly gates of heaven in full glory. The cycle of lectures and practical drills goes on for months. On the last day of the training, they are taken to a special hall. Painted on the walls of which are beautiful images of lush green vistas, dotted with fruit laden trees, interspersed with streams of milk and honey. In attendance in the images are lovely dove-eyed females that are beaming inviting smiles at the onlookers. Here the recruits are told that their training is over and they now have to wait for the calling—a proposition almost unbearable for some of the impatient ones.

They are issued with certificates authorizing them to enter paradise. Two last instructions are given: 1. Not to feel guilty for the victims. The suicide bomber is carrying them to the heavens with him. They will in fact be waiting at the gates of heaven to greet him with garlands.2. To look down while pulling the handle on the suicide jacket. This will ensure that their faces are blown into a million little pieces. This not only guarantees that the infidels cannot track down their identities to this training institution; others’ chances of ascension to heavens are also preserved.

This then is the method to the madness, which needs to be countered. There is dire need for the resumption of local community vigilance system, coordination with police and monitoring of children’s activities by their parents. We need to promote the need for cooperation of public and activation of community vigilance system as it will enable law enforcing agencies to deliver more effectively and efficiently. Communities and the masses need to learn the techniques used by the terrorists to subvert their targets and motivate them to offer cooperation to the community leaders and the law enforcing agencies to counter the threat / menace of terrorism.

On Conspiracies

Nazi, British, and Arab Anti-Semitism: The Missing Links

The latest release from The National Archives, Hitler’s Shadow: Nazi War Criminals, U.S. Intelligence, and the Cold War. As The New York Times writes:

...In chilling detail, the report also elaborates on the close working relationship between Nazi leaders and the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who later claimed that he sought refuge in wartime Germany only to avoid arrest by the British.

In fact, the report says, the Muslim leader was paid “an absolute fortune” of 50,000 marks a month (when a German field marshal was making 25,000 marks a year). It also said he energetically recruited Muslims for the SS, the Nazi Party’s elite military command, and was promised that he would be installed as the leader of Palestine after German troops drove out the British and exterminated more than 350,000 Jews there.

On Nov. 28, 1941, the authors say, Hitler told Mr. Husseini that the Afrika Corps and German troops deployed from the Caucasus region would liberate Arabs in the Middle East and that “Germany’s only objective there would be the destruction of the Jews.”

The report details how Mr. Husseini himself was allowed to flee after the war to Syria — he was in the custody of the French, who did not want to alienate Middle East regimes — and how high-ranking Nazis escaped from Germany to become advisers to anti-Israeli Arab leaders and “were able to carry on and transmit to others Nazi racial-ideological anti-Semitism.”

“You have an actual contract between officials of the Nazi Foreign Ministry with Arab leaders, including Husseini, extending after the war because they saw a cause they believed in,” Dr. Breitman said. “And after the war, you have real Nazi war criminals — Wilhelm Beisner, Franz Rademacher and Alois Brunner — who were quite influential in Arab countries.”

In October 1945, the report says, the British head of Palestine’s Criminal Investigation Division told the assistant American military attaché in Cairo that the mufti might be the only force able to unite the Palestine Arabs and “cool off the Zionists. Of course, we can’t do it, but it might not be such a damn bad idea at that.”

U.S. Flood Relief Ops in Pakistan Completed

Pakistan soldiers stand in formation during a ceremony at Ghazi Aviation Base, Pakistan, Dec. 2, 2010. The ceremony marked the end of U.S. military humanitarian airlift flights in Pakistan. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Joshua Kruger/Released)

U.S. Soldiers with Delta Company, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade pose for a photo before a ceremony at Ghazi Aviation Base, Pakistan, Dec. 2, 2010. The ceremony marked the end of U.S. military humanitarian airlift flights in Pakistan. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Joshua Kruger/Released)
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Michael Nagata speaks during a ceremony at Ghazi Aviation Base, Pakistan, Dec. 2, 2010. The ceremony marked the end of U.S. military humanitarian airlift flights in Pakistan. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Joshua Kruger/Released)

Ceremony Marks End of Pakistan Flood Relief Operations

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs

Story by Jim Garamone

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops supporting the humanitarian relief effort to flood-stricken Pakistan ended their mission, Dec. 2.

Pakistani officials hosted a ceremony marking the occasion in Islamabad, the country's capital.
At the end of operations, 18 U.S. military helicopters and about 350 U.S. service members were conducting airlift missions.

"This was not the beginning, and it was not the end. This is a continuation of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship," said Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, commander of the Pakistan army's 11th Corps.

At the effort's peak, the United States deployed 26 helicopters, multiple C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft and several hundred service members working in close partnership with Pakistani military forces. The floods affected more than 20 million people in Pakistan beginning in July.

"We have been honored to partner with the military forces of Pakistan to bring aid and comfort for those in need," said Army Brig. Gen. Michael Nagata, deputy commander of Office of the Defense Representative to Pakistan and the deployed Task Force commander. "The support, camaraderie and spirit of cooperation and shared effort have been extraordinary."

U.S. officials stressed that while the military humanitarian effort is ending, the United States will continue financial relief. The U.S. government is providing more than $571 million to assist Pakistan with relief and recovery efforts for flood victims.

The Islamabad ceremony was a chance to thank the combined and joint task force of U.S. and Pakistani military and civilian aid agencies, who provided food, shelter and aerial evacuation for tens of thousands of Pakistanis affected by the floods.

American helicopters delivered humanitarian aid to villages cut off by the flooding of the Indus River. Choppers also rescued more than 40,000 Pakistanis during the past five months of operations. Air Force C-130s and C-17 cargo aircraft delivered bulk goods to distribution sites around the country.
U.S. aircraft delivered more than 25 million pounds of relief supplies during the operation.

When the floods struck, Army helicopters from neighboring Afghanistan were among the first international aircraft on the scene. Marine helicopters from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Peleliu replaced the Army helicopters by the end of September. Helicopters from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit joined the effort in September.

The U.S. military humanitarian effort worked closely with Pakistani military and civilian authorities to ensure the aid got where it was needed, when it was needed, Defense Department officials said. Service members also worked closely with international aid organizations to transport goods and people.

Unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered the floods through the Swat River Valley -- an area that was a key battleground against the Pakistani Taliban last year. Flooding proceeded downstream, spilling out of the country's tribal areas to its more populous provinces.

The effort now shifts to recovery and reconstruction, and U.S. embassy officials promised to help in the tasks that lie ahead.